Peter Hayes

Peter is the kind of initiate who doesn't care what others think of him. He comes from Candor, where saying everything to your face is the rule, and uses candor as a weapon: he taunts, humiliates and defends himself with an irony that rarely fails. Miles Teller gives the character an acid humor and the smile of someone who knows he's right. Peter isn't blind to injustice, but decides it only matters when it hits him. In Dauntless he wants to top the ranking and doesn't care what he has to do to get there, which makes him Tris's opposite.

Peter arrives in Dauntless from Candor and quickly becomes Tris's main enemy in initiation. Petty and competitive, he taunts, hits and teams up with anyone who helps him climb the ranking. With Drew and Al, he even attacks Tris at night. When Erudite takes over Dauntless, Peter saves himself by faking the serum's effect. Tris forces him to lead the group to the control room, and he obeys reluctantly.

After the attack, Peter flees with Tris, Four and Caleb, but betrays the group when it suits him. He tells Erudite where the fugitives are and starts working for Jeanine. Even so, at the decisive moment, he helps Tris and Four escape, which makes him hard to pin down. Peter never says which side he is really on. He always seems to play his own game.

Alongside the group, Peter goes over the wall into the outside world with Tris and Four. Far from Chicago, he watches the city with Caleb, using the Bureau's cameras and data. Still cynical and sarcastic, he leaves everyone unsure whether he protects his friends out of loyalty or self-interest. In the film he is the group's least predictable piece.

In Veronica Roth's books, Peter is also a Candor-born initiate and Tris's rival. In Divergent he stabs Edward in the eye, a scene the film leaves out. Details in the "What changed on screen" tab of the books saga.